


Ocean Past Dark

by littlestarlight44



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, OC, Unknown Family, avengers family gets bigger, oc daughter - Freeform, so does his daughter, tony having to figure shit out, tony realizing he has a bigger family than he thought, tony's daughter fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18512275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlestarlight44/pseuds/littlestarlight44
Summary: When Tony woke up one day, he did not expect for Fury to give him an envelope containing evidence that he had a twenty-four year old daughter he never knew about. At the same time, when Mira Roberts put her DNA in for an ancestry website to learn more about where she came from, she never expected the answer to lead back to an Avenger. Now what the hell was Tony supposed to do?





	Ocean Past Dark

**A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first Avengers fic so I really appreciate all of the reads and comments/constructive criticisms you have! I hope you enjoy the first chapter. You'll learn more about Mira in the next! Happy reading!**

* * *

 

 

Fury stared at the ceiling of the elevator as FRIDAY took him to the floor where Tony was working in his lab. He was gripping the envelope tightly in his hand, but making sure that it wouldn’t wrinkle what was inside. He wasn’t exactly nervous, but he was no where near the emotion of excitement. He had experience giving people news they likely weren’t expecting, but this was not the type of news he usually dealt with. SHIELD reports and sharing them, or giving reports on what was going on in some type of disaster the Avengers were trying to stop creating, were much more at his level. 

Feeling the elevator come to a stop, and the sound of a beep as a second indicator, FRIDAY’s voice spoke overhead as the doors open.

“This is the floor that you are looking for. Sir is on the far side of the room,” FRIDAY explained.

Stepping forward, the black man took a glance up at the AI, or at least where the voice came from, and after a small, uncertain pause he spoke, “thank you.” He never knew how to talk to AI’s. It felt weird to not talk to a physical person, much less to thank one.

Walking forward, Fury made sure to keep an even face. 

“Tony?” Fury called out, walking toward the sound of a drill, AC/DC music at such a high volume hat Fury wondered how he hadn’t heard it in the elevator beforehand.

He spotted the billionaire working on a part that was hanging from the ceiling by a metal arm-like structure. Beside it was a large projected screen that was seemingly interactive as it showed blueprints of a suit that was moving as Tony’s hands turned the blueprints and zoomed in on something. 

Looking up at Tony as Fury got closer to the table he was working on.

“Stark!” he tried again.

The billionaire quickly turned, surprised but not scared. He raised an eyebrow as he peered at the other man, but immediately he went back into character.

“Fury!” he greeted before looking up at the ceiling. “FRIDAY, music at 25%!”

Immediately the music lowered and Fury could finally hear himself think again. How the man could work under those conditions Fury didn’t have any idea.

“Something I can do for you, Fury?” Tony asked, already turning back to the part he was working on. “I’m a little busy at the moment.”

Fury rolled his eyes. It was the usual attitude and focus that he got from Tony every time he came to see him, but at times it could be tiring. When he wanted to, he could bring out his own attention seeking tone that usually got everyone’s attention, but the weight of what was in his hand didn’t give him any inspiration for it.

“Do you make it a habit to stand on your table?” Fury commented with slight interest.

“When I want to,” Tony answered off-handedly.

Fury nodded once. Fair enough.

“Tony, we need to talk,” Fury commented as he looked up at the other man as he seemingly worked on _something_ , of which he had no exact idea what it was, but it looked like it was for his suit.

The dark haired man barely looked over his shoulder to give him a grin.

“Uh oh, did I forget to pay my bill to SHIELD?” he joked with a blank expression, pressing buttons on a screen as it pulled up in the air in front of him. 

Fury gritted his teeth. He never met anyone as annoying as Stark. Like a child, with some weird superiority complex that was an illusion to shield himself. Damn him for being too smart and valuable to let go. 

“Tony, this is important information,” he tried again, not wanting his anger to spark up for this news, but Stark knew how to push buttons, like he was now with his back still to Fury.

The billionaire turned around slightly with an exaggerated sigh for some humorous affect he was trying to get, Fury assumed, and stared at him for a moment as though to read his face before he commented, pointing to Fury.

“Is it important news?” he repeated. “How could I tell, Fury? You have one face, did you know that? Kinda hard to read your facial expressions or tone of voice and get a good read and social cue, you know what I mean.” Fury wondered why his hands moving around as he talked? And what was with that matter-of-fact-tone. “You gotta work on that, you know. Be more social and learn how to not have resting bitch face as your concrete expression, it might help you make more friends—”

“Stark,” Fury interrupted him. 

There was a brief pause and Fury let out a breath. Despite Tony’s small, joking rant, he saw the motion. His hands lower slowly and his brows furrow. Did Fury look…he didn’t even know what the expression would be. Softness maybe? It was unnatural, but it caught his attention.

“What’s going on?” he asked in the silence.

Fury sighed and brought his hands out of his pocket and with the other brought up the envelope to give him. Tony raised an eyebrow, but tentatively took it. He stared down at blank beige envelope, nothing on it except for a ‘confidential’ placed across it. However, unlike all of the other times where he was given one of these by SHIELD, where there would be a red stamp placed on the cover that read CONFIDENTIAL, instead it was written out in red pen in messy writing. Not to mention, it was significantly thinner and weighed less than all of the others he received before.

“Another project for SHIELD?” Tony asked.

“No,” Fury admitted. He moved to link his hands behind his back, keeping his face composed, but Tony could still see something soft in it.

Oh Christ.

“Should I be concerned?” Tony asked as he tried to figure out what he was walking into, what road he should take to try and figure out what the answer is.

“It’s…” Fury tried again, “something that I wanted to tell you the news personally, Tony.”

‘Tony’??

Oh hell.

It couldn’t be his parents, or maybe something of their past possibly came up in a red flag. Or something from his own past with the weapons? He knew that was riddled with a bottomless pit of things that could come back up at a moment’s notice. Or…really anything of his past. There were a lot of drinking years that he could barely recall a few days of. Or something posted online. JARVIS and FRIDAY were usually good about information that could be found or posted about him online but something could have come up on a different tag, the picture could’ve been at just the right angle not to catch his facial match—

“I suggest you just open the envelope,” Fury broke through his thoughts. 

Staring at him for a few heartbeats longer, Tony gave in and moved to pull up the envelope tab and placed a hand inside. There was paper, card-stock maybe, and something…some large pictures?

He takes hold of the small stack of paper and pictures and carefully pulls them out of the large envelope. The first thing that he sees is a large picture of a brunette girl, thin, not older than 26 maybe. Light freckles sprinkled her face and she had large, brown eyes. She was pretty, but he’s never seen this girl before. 

Brows furrowing, Tony looks back up at Fury.

“Umm, thanks Fury, but I think I’ll stick with Pepper,” Tony jokes, still trying to figure out what track to tread on as Fury’s face stayed unreadable.

“Her name is Mira Roberts,” Fury replied, not wasting any time. Taking a few steps forward, he looked Tony in the eye, “and she’s your daughter.”

Tony froze except for the his head tilted up so fast he heard a crack in his neck. He stared at Fury’s blank yet soft expression, eyes wide with shock and confusion.

“I’m sorry,” Tony could barely find his voice. “My _what_?”

“Your daughter, Tony,” Fury replied, looking straight into Tony’s eyes. 

The billionaire could only stare at the other man, trying to get those words to process into his head. Instead, they came in and just rolled around and around and around, as though they were doing somersaults in his brain. They were acrobatics that he didn’t realize his rational thoughts could keep up with. 

“Fury, this isn’t even remotely funny,” Tony replied harshly.

“This is not a joke, Stark,” Fury immediately replied.

Tony felt his heart picking up its pace, thumping hard against his chest.

“Wh…Where did you even get this?” Tony asked, his mind still racing. He could barely sputter out any thoughts that were blurring in his mind. “What the fuck, Fury, you don’t just drop this type of information on someone.” 

“I know,” Fury tried to reason with him, keeping his voice level, as though trying to model for Tony do the same as the billionaire’s voice rose both in volume and in tone. “A couple of days ago someone put their DNA on one of those ancestry and family tree sites. A blood match with you was flagged.”

A _blood match?_

“How close?” he asked.

“99.9% match that you are a close blood relative,” Fury replied. “Not even cousins can get that close of a match sometimes.”

_Christ…_

“And what, this just…came up online?” Tony could barely find his voice, and even what he had sounded like sputtered shock.

“I have all of your DNA on file and, of course under different names and on high security, if anyone was to upload your DNA to any databases, including websites where you can submit your DNA to find out your family history is one of them. Just a precaution, but we do it to be safe…,” Fury trailed off slightly before regaining, “…and for reasons like this.”

Tony shook his head, for once in a long time feeling his legs wobble. He stares at the pictures again. Noticing something familiar about the pictures, something that he began to connect, made his stomach suddenly turn. He felt something in his throat, and almost choked when he tried to swallow it.

“Are you sure?” Tony asked, backing up slowly until he hit the chair for his desk that he had ben sitting in to look over some information. 

He shifted the files in his hand, passing through the pictures quickly, unsure if he could look at them for too much longer before the thing in his throat actually left it involuntarily and at rapid speed.

However, something else caught his eye as he shifted through the files.

Moving it so that it was horizontal and he could properly read it, Tony felt as though something was expanding in his chest, as though cement had been poured into it and was now hardening, expanding yet contracting his ribcage. 

“We also have your father’s DNA on file as well from his work with SHIELD,” Fury further explained. “It was also a familial match to her.”

_Fuck_ the voice in his head was both whispering and screaming in one breath. He felt as though he could barely breathe, feeling Fury’s eyes on him as he slouched over himself. He could only imagine the choice words his father would have for this situation.

He stared down at the certificate. A copy of course from whatever secret database or software SHIELD had to get access to medical files, but he knew it was real all the same.

A certificate of birth in the New York state for a _Mira Isabelle Roberts, born on December 12, 1994._

Tony ran a hand over his face, slouched over as his other hand gripped the photos and paperwork in his other hand, making slight dents in both. 

Mind racing, he kept thinking as his fingers moved from over his face to the bridge of his nose.

_December 12th 1994…March 1994, March 1994 March 1994 1994 1994 1994_

Christ, he was twenty-four at that point himself, and it had been three years since his parents died. University was over for him by them, as well as any apprenticeships he got through what his father’s status was able to give him. He went straight into million-wage jobs before he was 23. He got in and out early, and after that he plowed through any type of savings and new earnings he had. Young, stupid, a lot of money, and all still in mourning he knew even a few years after that was a fucking bad combination.

Not to mention, around that time he was more experimenting than he was with women. That much he definitely remembered. If this was to happen, he wouldn’t have thought it would be around those years.

His eyes still closed, he sighed again and asked, “do you have any idea who the mother could be? Or even just a familial relation.” Maybe that could give him a clue and spark a memory. Fuck, _1994 what the fuck was happening in 1994_

“Nothing that gives a close enough familial match to the records we have access to,” Fury admitted.

Considering Tony had an inkling into exactly how many records they had access to, that made this all more unbelievable.

Tony bit his lip and let his fingers and hand run down the rest of his face. Slouched over, he let the arm rest on his leg and he looked down at the pictures again.

She didn’t really _look_ like him, did she? It could be an honest mistake. Blood types and matches could’ve been common enough and a match could’ve been perpetrated. 

But yet…

He stared at the pictures, moving his one hand to take the picture at the top of the strange girl walking out of an apartment and placed it beside the second one of the same girl, a different angle, eating ice-cream at a Dairy Queen and talking to, what he guessed was, a red-headed friend. 

They were pictures of a girl who he would’ve walked past on the street. She blended into a crowd, she looked like another other girl, but yet when you focused on her you could see that she stood out in her own soft glow.

She didn’t remind Tony of himself. He doubted they really even looked similar.

Yet…

He saw in her what he often saw in pictures and memories of his mother. Not just the aura of a photo, but that they almost even looked a little similar.

“Fuck,” he whispered. 

Fury stared down at the man. It was the reaction he expected, but it still looked odd to see Tony Stark, often a balloon full of comebacks and confidence, slouched down like this. 

“Do _you_ have any idea who the mother could be?” Fury asked. 

“I don’t think you even have to research into my past that much to know that is a hard no,” Tony sighed. He shakes his head, moving to look at the next picture. The girl was getting out of an old building. Something studious. A college maybe?

He looked over the picture once more before he shuffled the paperwork and photos again until he got to the printed off birth certificate. The one where he knew that his name should be in the one beside ‘father’, and the one where ‘mother’ was blank too.

Mira Isabelle Roberts. One of the most common surnames placed just so she would have one. No ties to it, nothing familial. Maybe it was pre-chosen because it sounded nice perhaps, but it was there because something had to be.

“We talked to the hospital she was born, but after so many years they destroy records and with closed adoptions/abandonment…” Fury explained.

Tony waved a hand slightly.

“Don’t,” he commented tiredly. “I get the picture.”

He sighs again.

_Fuck_.

He stares at the paper a few seconds before he asks Fury, “please don’t tell anyone. I need to tell Pepper.” 

Christ, Pepper. Pepper, the strongest person he had ever met. Pepper his fiancé. Pepper who would learn he had a daughter from before they met. Pepper who had to deal with so much shit by him already. Pepper, the only person who could even remotely bring up the idea of him having kids of his own. Pepper, who he would disappoint again.

Fury nods even if Tony doesn’t directly see it.

“The only people who know are me and Agent Hill, only because she is the one who read over the notification when it came up and she took those pictures,” Fury promised. “This is your information and privacy, I won’t tell anyone about it and neither will Agent Hill.” 

Tony nodded. He stared down at the birth certificate for a few more minutes before he looked back up at Fury, almost confused and desperate, but he shook his head.

“Thank you for telling me,” Tony told him. “I’m…not exactly sure what I’m going to do with all of this information yet, but thank you for letting me know.”

Fury nodded. He pursed his lips for a moment before he continued, “I already deleted the file off all services. The ancestry website will essentially say there was a glitch and it got eliminated, as did other samples of DNA that were placed on it. SHIELD is already in contact with it and calling it a security measure so there shouldn’t be any complaints or media attention, if so minimal and it won’t be traced back to you or SHIELD. But,” Fury took a pause, “Agent Hill set up some cameras around her building, and will be looking around her now and then just to make sure things stay calm. We don’t know who else may have seen the information or made the connection before we brought it down and if they may go after her because of your status, or if she wants any money from you and that was an original intention. It’s just a safety precaution, but know that we’ll be watching her as well.”

Tony nods again. Despite only finding about this girl—how many minutes was it now since Fury handed him this envelope?—he felt some relief in knowing that she would be safe.

He looks down for a moment before setting all of the papers in one hand and moving the newly free hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. He needed to make sure he got better gel.

“Did Maria say anything more about her?” Tony asked, sitting up slightly form the slouched position. 

“We didn’t want to get too invasive,” Fury started.

“Bullshit, Fury, I know how you work,” Tony replied.

There was a pause before fury shrugged. “Fair enough,” he replied, moving as though to kick some specs of dirt on the ground before answering, his voice confident as always, “in a few months she will graduate New York University with palaeontology and archeology graduate degrees, both are Honours programs, like a double major. She’s gotten a lot of scholarships both from the school and other programs, probably that and loans are the only things that are keeping her going through the program because she grew up in foster homes and girls homes so no money came from family supports. 

“She’ll be one of the top students in her class. She mostly grew up in the New York state, but hadn’t been to the city until she came for university. She has no speeding tickets but had five parking tickets, of which she always paid later that day or the day after. She is currently working at a Starbucks. Her Facebook…”

“That’s enough,” Tony sighed. Foster homes, girl’s homes. This girl grew up without a family. But maybe it was best, considering he had no idea what happened in his life between 1992-1998. Not to mention, but he knew he was in no way shape or form Father Material, especially not back then. And his parents would’ve given him hell for all of it too, his mother probably insisting on they raise the baby.

He stared down at the pictures again. There was definitely something in her smile that mirrored the one his own mother had.

The more he looked at the picture, the more he could see it.

“Is there anything else you need to tell me?” Tony asked, his mind reeling yet in slow motion, almost chugging away. It was a rush and swift crash land into him, and now he felt exhausted.

_Fuck I have a kid_.

“No,” Fury told him. “But I wanted to tell you all this personally, make sure the message got to you.” Fury paused for a moment before continuing, moving his arms from out behind him, “I thought that you should know.”

Tony nods, he sighs and runs a hand down his face, rubbing it off of his chin as he let out a longer sigh. Fury takes a step closer, moving his hands in front of him to make almost a point with his fingers.

“Now, Stark,” Fury explained, “what happens after this is up to you. The only people who know about this are Maria, you, and me. No one else has to know, we can pretend like this conversation never occurred. What you do with this information is up to you.”

“Yeah,” Tony replied, still looking down at the pictures. “I’m trying to figure that out for myself.”

 

~.~

 

As the last tiny screw was tightened into place, Tony let out a small huff of air before turning his head to look over his shoulder and at his bedside clock. The red numbers showed 3:47 am. He looked back to the watch on his desk, placed back together for the fourth time that night, the instruments and tools set off to the side. On average, it took him around 50 minutes to completely dismember and place back together the watch. It was his go-to when he couldn’t sleep, yet didn’t want to work on his suit. Unlike working on his suit when he wanted to avoid his thoughts by focusing on what he was doing, the watch activity was something he didn’t actually have to focus on. He had done it so many times that he could likely do it in his sleep. It allowed him to do something with his hands while his mind could wander and go deeper into his thoughts. 

Perhaps his choice of what to do when he couldn’t sleep that night was already unconsciously telling him something about the situation.

He sighed, staring down at the watch, shining under the desk lamp light. He had tried to get to sleep when he found that he couldn’t get his mind to work on his suit. However, after an hour of just tossing and turning and getting irritated, he went to his desk where the watch and tools were still placed from the last time he used them. 

He went to grab his personal phone, needing to work out his thoughts but stopped when the screen background of a picture of Pepper came up. Leaning against the desk, he sighed and placed the phone back down but farther away from him on the desk. He called Pepper earlier that day to tell her that he’d be working all night so she shouldn’t come over. Both the lie and the effort to avoid her for the time being adding more guilt to the situation. He was still trying to figure out how to tell her. 

On one hand he could pretend he never got the file. The girl was twenty-four. She had lived a long time without him, had her own life established, and him stepping into her life might just screw everything up for her. Apparently she was going to be graduating soon, and with two graduate degrees nonetheless. She was smart and obviously had her life together. And he was one hell of a hot mess with a lot of issues that would be better off without him. He could do this like how he avoided every other problem or reality issue that he just didn’t want to face, pretend like it didn’t exist. And in the end, it would likely the best results for everyone involved.

Yet he couldn’t stop thinking about her. And he knew that she wasn’t a ‘problem’. He had a kid, a fucking grown up kid, that he never knew about. Never even suspected. Considering he could barely remember making _her_ , he should consider himself lucky there aren’t more incidents like this…or possibly there are and they just haven’t come up on SHIELD’s radar. That thought he forced out of his mind as fast as he could.

He still had the files right beside him on the desk, in the dark but the shadow of the light slightly cast over on them, making them look ordinary but he knew what laid inside. 

And on the other hand of all this…he knew now. The cat was out of the bag, or rather the files out of the envelope. He knew that he couldn’t just forget about a daughter he sired. She was there, alive, and he knew. 

And worst of all, he knew he was curious about her. He knew where she went to school, where she worked, that she studied palaeontology and archeology, had a few speeding tickets. But what were her hobbies, if she had any, or where had she been? She had been into palaeontology but was she into mechanics, could she tinker? Did she have any questions for him? She _had_ gotten a DNA ancestry test, likely to try and find her family or something close enough to it that she knew where she could belong. 

But was that selfish of him? She had grown up in foster and girls homes and he had no idea. He had been totally oblivious to her existence. She may be curious, but did that mean she actually wanted to know him. And would she want _him_. Tony Stark, Iron Man billionaire philanthropist, a man with a hell of a lot of press coverage and enemies that’s also a fucking hot mess with alcohol, drug, and Daddy problems so big he almost drowned in them. 

Despite what she might’ve went through she seemed to have positive control of her life and what if he screwed all of that up?

“Fuck you, Fury,” he growled. He had been able to live with himself up until this moment. He could sleep with all the shitty things he had done in his life, all his regrets, his past angers; yet he was caught on this. _And fuck my curiosity while I’m at it_ , he thought tiredly. 

Was this what midlife crisis’s are now?

His fingers went to take apart the watch again before he stopped himself. He sighed and ran a hand over his face before leaning over the desk more, his hands rested over his face, his elbows holding his head up as they rested on the desk.

Coffee. He needed coffee.

There was a slight sound of the chair legs moving against the carpet in the silence of the room before he pushed himself off of the seat and walked out of the room.

“FRIDAY, lights at 15%,” he spoke.

“Of course, Mr. Stark,” FRIDAY’s voice fills the hallway as the lights slowly get brighter, giving just enough light for Tony to see where he was going. He knew there wouldn’t be anything he could trip on, but it made him feel better to see where he was going. “Should start brewing the coffee-maker.”

“Please, for the one in the common lounge” Tony replied as he went through the common area of his floor, which was essentially his living room area space, before going out the door to the small hallway to the elevator, a more recent addition to ever since the others have accidentally walked in on him or on each other when going to another’s floor and went right into their living room area. Only the Avengers or anyone given with extremely special clearance could come to their floor, but after that anyone could show up on any floor. After a few mishaps, everyone agreed a solution needed to be made to ensure privacy. And a password/knocking system to get in would take too long to hold up the elevator, so Tony just rebuild. It still looked weird to go through a door to the elevator.

Hitting the button the the main common lounge floor, Tony leaned against the wall as he felt the elevator moving down. He ran his hand down his face again. Damn he was tired.

Hearing the ‘ding!’ to indicate they were at the wanted floor, Tony groaned lightly before he pushed himself off of the side and railing of the elevator to advance onto the kitchen area.

Already seeing it before he left the elevator doors, he was surprised to see the lights a little brighter than the average that he had FRIDAY set it at every night. Not only that…was a radio on?

Stepping into the kitchen area, he was surprised to see Natasha holding a cup of something steaming in two hands, leaning against the island. She looks back over at him, an eyebrow quirked, but that was the only tell she gave to her confusion. Tony couldn’t imagine what he looked like. Looking at how she was already in her regular clothing for the day, he became very aware that he was still in his dark blue old pyjamas and black robe.

“Now I know why the coffee maker turned on by itself,” Natasha commented. Her voice seemed much louder in the quieter space. “Don’t you have a coffee-maker in your own living room…and bedroom?”

Tony was already moving to get out a mug, walking past her and smelling the spiced tea that he realized was in her mug. Reaching up, he opened the cupboard and grabbed one at random before shutting the door. He shrugged.

“I wanted to watch around, stretch my legs,” Tony answered. _That and I was starting to go damn stir-crazy._ Hearing the coffee-maker click to indicate it was done brewing, Tony went around to the other side of her to get to the machine, quickly filling his mug. He looks up at her and asks, “you couldn’t sleep?”

Natasha shook her head.

“I’m always up at this time,” her tone seemed as though it should be so simple as she took a drink of her tea.

Tony stared at her for a brief moment before he nodded, “of course,” he replied, as though it was obvious. He catches the corners of her lips rise before it is hidden again by her taking another drink.

As he takes his first drink, Tony turns so that he is leaning against the cupboards across from her. They both look at each other for a brief moment, the radio filling the silence for a moment before Natasha lowered her mug.

“So why couldn’t you sleep?” she asked. 

The man’s face contorted.

“How do you know _I_ just didn’t wake up?” he asked defensively, trying to advert an answer.

Natasha stared at him as though she had never been more bored in her life.

“I know that if you don’t sleep at night it’s either because you are staying up working late to finish a project in your lab because you would rather stay up all night to finish something rather than stopping a project and then wake-up early in the morning to finish it because you just like to, I believe the words you used was ‘plow through it’ — which I’m sure doesn’t have a double meaning,” Natasha commented and Tony had to force himself to drink more coffee to keep himself from smirking, “and you either don’t sleep the whole night and stay up for days straight, or you stay up a little late and oversleep. There is no in-between.”

_Assassins and their attention to details_ , Tony thought.

She looks pointedly at him and he almost felt her gaze stabbing him.

“So,” she started again, her tone even with both demand and curiosity, “why are you awake? I’m sure you’re not working on your suit in that outfit…nice slippers by the way.”

Tony pursed his lips, not sure whether to address the comment of dress or why he was awake. 

Looking down at his sleepwear, Tony sighed. Out of everyone here, he knew she’d figure it out eventually even if he didn’t give any tell. And considering here they were, she’d probably figure out something was off and what it was within the next hour.

“Fury just shared some news with me last night,” Tony replied.

He never would’ve thought that Natasha would look at him with surprised concern. Sure he had seen it for others on the rare occasion, but it was not an expression common to her face. Then again, Natasha was one of the few people who knew Fury and how he, SHIELD, and spreading only certain news could mean.

“Did something happen?” Natasha asked. He wondered briefly if the concern was also because the news hadn’t been shared with her by Fury himself, but he pushed that thought from his mind. Natasha did have her secrets, but she also had her loyalty, even if she never wanted to admit it.

Tony shook his head, but stopped and moved his head from side to side slower, almost lopsided as he thought about the question.

“Kind of?” Tony admitted, yet also questioned himself.

Natasha stared at him, taking another drink of the tea.

“Anything medical?” Natasha asked.

Knowing that she was already starting to deduct what it could be, Tony still shook his head.

“No,” he responded. 

“Shocking or bad?” Natasha asked.

What surprised him the most was that he only felt one of those emotions.

“Shocking…” Tony admitted. “It caught me off-guard.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow for a few moments before she lowered it again.

“Something with the government?” Natasha asked.

“Can we stop playing 20 Questions?” Tony countered, his voice rising in volume slightly.

The redhead shrugged.

Tony sighed again and looked down at his coffee. He had no idea what he was going to do. He knew he needed to tell Pepper, _how_ he would bring that up and explain it was not something he wanted to think about. His mind spinning at the rate it was at this moment was good enough for him. And what about _her_. Should he leave it or not? Let her wonder? And if not what kind of conversation would that be with his daughter?

Fuck, that word was still weird to think or say.

Staring at her, he felt a realization slowly creeping up on him. 

Natasha was already trying to figure out what was going on. And considering her skills, it definitely wouldn’t take her too long to get the information from him or Fury enough to connect the dots.

But what if she could find information _for_ him?

“Natasha?” Tony asked as he leaned in a little closer to her, the other standing in place as she watched him, her arms folding with that blank, resting, always determined face, “I need you to do me a big… _quiet_ , favour.”

The redhead raised an eyebrow. 


End file.
